Kahn v. Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co.

970 F.2d 1030, 1992 WL 145522
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedJune 30, 1992
DocketNo. 1373, Docket 92-7028
StatusPublished
Cited by86 cases

This text of 970 F.2d 1030 (Kahn v. Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kahn v. Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co., 970 F.2d 1030, 1992 WL 145522 (2d Cir. 1992).

Opinion

KELLEHER, Senior District Judge:

Plaintiffs Phyllis Kahn and Steven G. Thorne appeal from the dismissal by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, John S. Martin, Jr., Judge, of their complaint pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Fed. R.Civ.P.) 12(b)(6) on the ground that the action was barred by the statute of limitations. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs commenced this direct and derivative action on August 21, 1991, seeking rescission of an investment advisory agreement entered into on September 25, 1987, by the Minnesota State Board of Investment (the “State Board”), as trustee for certain state employee pension funds (the “Retirement Funds”), and the defendant Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co. (“KKR”), on the grounds that the agreement violates the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, 15 U.S.C. § 80b-l et seq. (the “IAA”), in several ways.

The 1987 Agreement provided that the Board was irrevocably committed to investing $146.6 million with KKR for investments that KKR chose and to paying KKR for its investment advisory services. At KKR’s direction, the Board would invest as a limited partner in certain limited partnerships established by KKR in order to acquire target businesses. Defendant KKR Associates, which is controlled by KKR, would act as the general partner. Defendant Whitehall, Associates, L.P., was the limited partnership created to facilitate the takeover of RJR Nabisco in 1988/89.

The Complaint alleges that the agreement violates the IAA in that KKR has failed to register as an investment adviser, 15 U.S.C. § 80b-3, that pursuant to it, in relation to the RJR transaction, KKR is to receive performance-based compensation which is prohibited, 15 U.S.C. § 80b-5, and that it fails to disclose the nature of the compensation to be received by KKR, 15 U.S.C. § 80b-6.

Plaintiffs sought a declaration that the 1987 Agreement, the “Whitehall Agreements,” and the “KKR-Whitehall Agreements” are void as well as a restitution of [1033]*1033all fees paid to KKR pursuant to the agreements. These additional agreements are the partnership agreements used to facilitate the takeover.

KKR, KKR Associates, and Whitehall moved to dismiss the Complaint pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) and 12(b)(7) on the grounds that (a) plaintiffs lacked standing to assert their claims, (b) plaintiffs had failed to join an indispensable party, (c) plaintiffs’ claims were barred by the statute of limitations, and (d) plaintiffs were guilty of laches. The district court granted defendants’ motion on the ground that the claims were barred by the statute of limitations and found it unnecessary to reach the other issues.

The jurisdiction of this Court is based upon 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

II. WHAT IS THE PROPER STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS APPLICABLE TO ACTIONS FOR RESCISSION UNDER THE IAA?

A. Creation of Private Cause of Action under IAA

The Investment Advisers Act regulates the conduct of investment advisers and provides that it may be enforced by the Securities and Exchange Commission through an action for injunctive relief. Section 215 of the IAA provides that contracts whose formation or performance would violate the act are void. In Transamerica Mortgage Advisors, Inc. (TAMA) v. Lewis, 444 U.S. 11, 100 S.Ct. 242, 62 L.Ed.2d 146 (1979), the Supreme Court held that this created an implied private cause of action for rescission of the void contract and restitution and that this was the sole private remedy available under the Advisers Act. Id. at 24, 100 S.Ct. at 247, 249.

Since the cause of action for rescission pursuant to the IAA is implied, the court must determine the appropriate limitations period. This determination is a matter of law and thus is decided by this court de novo.

B. Law Regarding Statute of Limitations for Implied Federal Causes of Action

When Congress has failed to provide a statute of limitations for a federal cause of action, courts generally borrow the state statute of limitations most analogous to the case at hand. Lampf, Pleva, Lipkind, Prupis & Petigrow v. Gilbertson, — U.S. -, 111 S.Ct. 2773, 2778, 115 L.Ed.2d 321 (1991). Because this rule has been followed for so long, if Congress is silent it is ordinarily assumed that it intends for the court to engage in state borrowing. Id.

The Court has recognized “a closely circumscribed exception” when it finds that “a state limitations period would frustrate the policies embraced by the federal enactment.” Id. (citations omitted). Federal borrowing is followed “when a rule from elsewhere in federal law clearly provides a closer analogy than available state statutes, and when the federal policies at stake and the practicalities of litigation make that rule a significantly more appropriate vehicle for interstitial lawmaking.” Id. (citations omitted).

State legislatures do not devise their limitations periods with national interests in mind, and it is the duty of the federal courts to assure that the importation of state law will not frustrate or interfere with the implementation of national policies.

Del Costello v. International Bhd. of Teamsters, 462 U.S. 151, 103 S.Ct. 2281, 2289, 76 L.Ed.2d 476 (1983) (citation omitted).

The “delicate” determination of the appropriate limitations period is made by following a “hierarchical inquiry,” most recently summarized in Lampf.

1. Step One — Should the Limitations Period be Uniform?

a. The first step is to determine whether the statute of limitations should be uniform:

Where a federal cause of action tends in practice to “encompass numerous and diverse topics and subtopics,” ... such that a single state limitations period may [1034]*1034not be consistently applied within a jurisdiction, we have concluded that the federal interests in predictability and judicial economy counsel the adoption of one source, or class of sources, for borrowing purposes.

Lampf, 111 S.Ct. at 2779 (citations omitted).

b. Examples of Step One

Thus the Court has determined that a uniform statute of limitations should apply for all RICO cases since RICO claims could be analogized to an endless number of state actions on the basis of the great variety of possible predicate acts for RICO claims. Agency Holding Corp. v. Malley-Duff Associates, Inc.,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
970 F.2d 1030, 1992 WL 145522, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kahn-v-kohlberg-kravis-roberts-co-ca2-1992.